Mirrors on which dust has fallen — Jeff Bursey

Set against a backdrop of public scandal and private dilemma, Mirrors on which dust has fallen presents the quotidian concerns of the average and the not-so-average inhabitants of the fictitious Bowmount, the province featured in Bursey’s precursor Verbatim: A Novel. The varied cast of characters examine and defend their spiritual beliefs, from God to evolution; their views on art, as painting battles photography for supremacy; and their sexuality, from confusion to pagan flagrancy. While Verbatim depicts the politics of the elected, Mirrors on which dust has fallen reveals the motives of the electorate, using pitch-perfect dialogue interjected with sly media snippets and elegant, subtle prose, to paint a darkly humorous and deeply telling tale of the late twentieth century in Canada.

“Jeff Bursey brings his gifts of complex plotting, sparkling, inventive dialogue, and a satirist’s eye to this hectic tale of Bowmount, Canada. As the Buddhist title suggests, its harried denizens are a long way from Nirvana.” — Steven Moore, author of The Novel: An Alternative History

“The writing is bawdy, heady, profane, often funny, and full of energy. Fans of Bursey’s distinctive first publication, Verbatim: A Novel, will be pleased, as will readers in search of something punchy and new-fangled.” — Joan Sullivan, The Telegram

“Mirrors on which dust has fallen [is] an explosively unconventional, deeply disturbing, and relentlessly original work. . . . He is equally comfortable writing about the logistics of clothing wholesalers and the challenges of running a small radio station as he is about the quotidian detail of Catholic ceremonies and the grit needed to keep a seedy pub afloat.” — Mark Sampson, Numero Cinq

“I felt like I was looking at swarming bacteria in a petri dish, everything felt so up close and I was so deep into it. I had to put the book down in order to gain sufficient distance to see the relationships of everyone intertwined in this microcosm, to feel the outlines of the story again. . . . It’s a really unique and unusual novel, quite unlike anything else I’ve read.” — Victoria Best, Litlove:Tales from the Reading Room

Release Date: June 1, 2015. Available from all booksellers and usual online retailers. ISBN: 9789810954376.